_Answer._--In a Royal West Indian Mail Steam Packet, in which I was
stoker, there were forty-five stokers and coal trimmers, forty-five
sailors, besides a number of stewards, stewardesses, six engineers, six
ship's officers, several mail officials, butchers, bakers, and a brass
band of eighteen musicians. There were two stoke-holds, one fore and one
abaft the funnel, and four boilers in each, and four furnaces in each
boiler, and three stokers in each stoke-hold, also three trimmers in
each stoke-hold. There was the same method of working in both
stoke-holds, and a constant and continual round of firing kept up day
and night. When going down on watch I have a piece of waste in each hand
to protect them from the hot handrails; I commence work by cleaning the
small tubes of four furnaces, then clean out the four furnaces, rake out
the ashes from the pit and fill them and the clinkers into iron buckets,
which the sailors haul up and empty over the ship's side. And while I am
engaged in this work my two mates are doing my firing for me--which is
in this way: one man fires every other fire of the sixteen fires, then
goes round again and fires those he missed the first round, then his
mate takes the shovel from his hands and fires every other fire, then
fires those he missed the first round; the third man does likewise, and
so it is constant firing all through. And having towering hot boilers
both sides of us and roaring furnaces behind and in front, the sweat
pours from us continually, and we are glad to pop into the engine room
after firing to get a draught of somewhat cooler air. I happened to have
the middle watch--12 midnight to 4 a.m.--which is the worst of the
watches, for when I came off at four the hands on deck were always doing
something to make a noise, and there is little chance of getting a
sleep, and hammocks must be stowed away before eight; then breakfast,
and the brass band strikes up for half an hour; but if there had been
dog-watches all of us would share in the middle watch--as follows:--
Brown Morning Watch 4 to 8 a.m.
Jones Forenoon " 8 to 12 noon.
Robinson Afternoon " 12 to 4 p.m.
Brown First Dog " 4 to 6 p.m.
Jones Second Dog " 6 to 8 p.m.
Robinson First " 8 to 12 midnight.
Brown Middle " 12 to 4 a.m.
Jones Morning " 4 to 8 a.m. = 24 hours.
A few hours after leaving Southampton all hands are mustered and
apportioned to man the seventeen boats hanging from the davits, eight on
each side, and the captain's gig under the stern; after this ceremony we
get an allowance of grog. The fires are now beginning to be dirty,
having clinkers seven or eight inches thick, which are not allowed to be
pulled out until the whole fire is cleaned at the usual time; this
order from the chief engineer surprised me at the time, as clinkers are
not calculated to increase the steam, so I left them there to deaden the
fire, but later on I found the solution; I was told by an old stoker
that there was sharp competition between the chief engineers as to who
could do the voyage at the least expense of coals, and that information
explained the action of our chief engineer who would often perambulate
the deck till midnight, watching the windsails that they should remain
with their backs to the wind in order to prevent a breath of cool air
reaching the fires, that would cause them to burn a few more pounds of
coals, while some of the stokers were often hauled up in the ash-bucket
fainting from the stifling heat of the foul-smelling stoke-hold. We were
all supplied with fishing-lines and hooks of three different sizes, and
extra grog when getting steam up. The method of cleaning and polishing
the engines and all bright work was very effectual, and did the stokers
great credit; after having scoured and polished the steel and bright
ironwork they were frosted, in imitation of hoar frost. A pot of hot
tallow and white lead in which a clean piece of cotton waste was dipped,
and the parts smeared evenly in line with the metal, and when this dried
it was dabbed, or patted, with another clean piece of waste also dipped
in the hot tallow, which gave the metal a good imitation of hoar frost;
the brass and copper work were burnished and shone like gold. The boat
drill and fire drill create some wonder for the passengers, as they
always happen unexpectedly; the former begins in this way: a large gong
is rapidly hit with a mallet by the quartermaster, and all those stokers
and sailors, who belong to the seventeen boats hanging from the davits,
immediately make their way towards them and commence to clear the falls,
and the word is given to lower all boats, while the men hold their oars
ready to push off, and the boats are run down nearly to the water's
edge; then it is up all boats, and those on deck run them up in a jiffy
to their places under the davits, and coil the tails up, and this ends
the boat drill. The fire drill takes place on another day, and commences
in this manner: the ship's bell is rapidly rung by the quartermaster;
the unusual rapidity of the ringing attracts the attention of all the
passengers who commence to crowd the upper deck; the stokers drop down a
dozen hose-pipes on the deck and run them out straight, and screw them
to nozzles leading down to the engine room. The engineers pop the pumps
on and up comes the water; every hose is now stiffened and the branches
are all directed over the ship's side, where they make a grand display.
All those of the ship's company who take no watches, as cooks, stewards,
bandsmen, etc., have each a pail full of water in hand, others a
blanket over their arm, all in exact line, and ready to help if
required; and after a few minutes' display of the hose-pipes, the
boatswain's whistle ends this drill for this voyage, and the hose-pipes
are disconnected, rolled up, and hung up, to be ready at any moment if
required. There are plenty of amusements on board, such as single-stick,
glove-boxing, wrestling, etc. But the game of the "Man in the Chair," is
one of the most laughable. A piece of board, 12 inches by 18 inches, in
which a strong rope is inserted in a hole in each corner and knotted on
the underside, the four ropes are carried upwards and made fast to the
forestay, and the "chair" has to be 6 feet from the deck. There are
perhaps thirty stokers in this game, and each one has twisted his black
silk neckerchief into rope shape, and a volunteer sits on the chair,
holding on to one of the chair-ropes with one hand and in the other his
silken rope. During these preliminary tactics the passengers are
crowding round to see what may happen. At last the man on the chair
gives the word "Ready Boys," and then commences a real slogging match,
hitting the chairman on legs, arms, face, neck, anywhere they can hit
him, and every hit being a matter of chance the passengers roar when the
man in the chair delivers a stinger to his tormentors; his blows come
with double force, as he is high above them, and swinging round and
round, and to and fro, they come unexpectedly and cause roars of
laughter; while this is going on a little tub, called a spitkin, is
surreptitiously pushed in view, and a few silver coins dropped into it
by one of our men, which causes the audience to dip their hands in their
pockets and a few pounds in silver are quickly thrown in; and after half
an hour's play this game comes to an end. One more specimen of the many
games that delight the passengers: about twenty men stand close together
and in line, their faces to the ship's head, the front man has a bandage
on his eyes, any one in the rank is at liberty to step out and go up to
him and slap his cheek, and dart off to his place in the rank before the
blindfold touches him; if he does, the touched one has to don the
bandage, and the other pulls his bandage off and takes a place in the
rank. When the slap is delivered, the slapper darts back to his place in
the rank with all possible speed, and the slapped one darts after the
other like greased lightning, and touches the wrong man perhaps, and
pulls the bandage off, only to have to put on again, while the
passengers roar with delight; the little tub is not forgotten in this
game; and then the climax comes when we think the blindfold has had
enough of it, and when a burly stoker steps out to deliver his slap, the
rank closes up tightly, and on rushing back to his place with the
blindfold at his heels, and the wild exertions of the man to squeeze
himself into the rank before he is touched and the joy of the blindfold
who has just touched his man, creates loud cheers and laughter, and the
burly man has to don the bandage and take his stand in front. Before
arriving at St. Thomas, there is a general clean up, bilges pumped out,
engines cleaned, boiler fronts and lagging polished; the passengers are
preparing for another voyage to some of the islands further west, as
Trinidad, St. Vincent, Barbadoes, Martinique, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, etc.
On entering the harbour guns are fired in our honour, and we return the
compliment by firing our six-pounder from the forecastle, the Colonial
steamer comes alongside our ship, when there are cheers and waving of
handkerchiefs and handshaking; the bumboats come alongside also and many
people, and board our ship, offering us a great variety of things for
sale; women galavanting over every part soliciting the officers'
washing, etc., etc. Our engines receive a thorough overhaul, boilers are
cleaned, cabins and stairways painted, and all bright metal cleaned and
repolished; our coals are delivered on board by a swarm of men, women
and youths, of both sexes, carrying them in small wicker baskets on
their heads, and stepping on a scale or counter on their way to the
ship, the process occupying about three days for about 800 tons of Welsh
coal. At last the time has come for starting for home; all visitors are
ordered off the ship: moorings are cast off, and a man at the voice-pipe
speaks to the engineers down below, and the great paddle-wheels revolve
slowly for a minute, while the band strikes up some appropriate air, as
"Afloat on the Ocean my days gaily fly," or "Afloat on the Ocean Wave."
Then commence the wild cheering and waving of hats and handkerchiefs
while the great paddles have lashed the water into white foam, and we
are fairly off for a fourteen days' voyage home. In all our games on
board in which I took part I noticed the distinguished presence of our
highly respected captain, which I am sure greatly enhanced our takings
in the little dish.